99 Grand Am won't start

[in-need]

I have a 99 grand am that won't turn over. The previous owner said he changed the alternator and distributor, and the car sat for a while. Now it just won't start. The battery was dead, but I jumped it for a while giving it back life. The car acts as if it wants to turn over, but wont. Service engine soon light comes on. I thought it might be electrical because the interior lights under the dash would not shut off for a long time. If any body has had any problems like this one please give me some info.

Thanks

[3100]

99 GA do not have distributor, you probably have dome light left on and it stays on until your weak battery dies. I think that your battery is not recharged or is completely bad and does not hold charge for long time. Recharge your battery and measure current draw by disconnecting negative battery wire and connecting your dvom inline with the battery cable and battery negative terminal. (touch negative battery post with your black dvom lead and battery negative cable connector with your dvom red lead. If it reads more than 0.025 A something is on such as glove box light, trunk light, or you have shorted circuit somewhere. I assume you know how to set your dvom to measure Amps. Then to find out what is staying on have somebody hold your dvom connected as I explained and start disconnecting fuses one by one if you pull a fuse and nothing changes put it back, try another one until you see that reading on your dvom change (decrease) when this happens you read label for that fuse and you will know what circuit is effected. hope this helps.

[3100]

Service engine light comes on and should stay on for 3 seconds just to show you that the bulb is functioning, so do not start to worry about that light jet

[xeroinfinity]

Originally Posted by in-need

I have a 99 grand am that won't turn over. The previous owner said he changed the alternator and distributor, and the car sat for a while. Now it just won't start. The battery was dead, but I jumped it for a while giving it back life. The car acts as if it wants to turn over, but wont. Service engine soon light comes on. I thought it might be electrical because the interior lights under the dash would not shut off for a long time. If any body has had any problems like this one please give me some info.

Thanks

Your battery has to be at least 12+ volts or it wont crank fast enough to start.
I'd also check all the connections in the starting/charging system, should all be clean and tight.

And Welcome to AF !